The Hotel Show, the MENA region’s longest-running hospitality trade exhibition, has announced the addition of a free-to-attend F&B Stakeholders Summit as part of the 2021 exhibition programme, which will run within the wider event, held from May 31-June 2, 2021 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
The F&B Stakeholders Summit has been introduced to address the major issues the industry has faced after a pivotal year for the food and beverage industry. The two-day summit will feature leading professionals sharing their insights, case-studies and market forecasts in panel format, while also providing the community a long-overdue opportunity to network and reunite face-to-face.
Now celebrating 21 years of connecting people, products and insights live and in-person, The Hotel Show remains a catalyst for change and growth in the industry through its annual gathering and feature experiences. The F&B Stakeholders Summit is timed perfectly at a critical moment for this market, as it moves from a challenging period to the gradual return of ‘normal’ business conditions with renewed vigour, ideas and invention.
The F&B Summit will take form of a series of highly focused and candid live discussions, with participation from a host of renowned speakers and panelists including Andy Cuthbert, Chairman of the Emirates Culinary Guild and General Manager for Jumeirah Creekside Hotel and Jumeirah Hospitality, Madinat Jumeirah Conferences & Events, Samantha Wood, Founder of Foodiva, Joey Ghazal, Founder & Managing Partner at The Maine New England Brasserie Company, Edward Harvey, Director, Elevate and Antonio Gonzales, CEO of Sunset Hospitality Group.
Naim Maadad, Founder of Gates Hospitality who will be speaking at The Hotel Show F&B Stakeholder Summit says, “Trendsetting forums like The F&B Stakeholders Summit will certainly go a long way in the path to recovery of the food and beverage industry. As we arrive at the threshold of a vital year – with the medical authorities encouraging the vaccination drive climax, it will be imperative to pump in new ideas into the industry and jointly commit ourselves to the betterment of all stakeholders. Great initiative.”
MENA Research Partners predict that the GCC’s F&B market will achieve growth of 7% this year, climbing to an estimated $196 bn. This recognises forecast for a significant rebound in tourism as countries gradually relax travel restrictions. For the UAE, this is further fueled by government drive to complete hospitality projects ahead of Expo 2020 in October 2021, expecting to welcome an additional 3 million tourists during its opening period.
Samantha Wood, Founder of Foodiva says, “On the back of the crisis where the world moved to conduct business online, in-person industry conferences like The F&B Stakeholders Summit at The Hotel Show are now more important than ever. The hospitality and F&B industries are people businesses, so we need this platform to communicate our ideas, innovate and network.”
Under this year’s theme, ‘Redefining Hospitality’, The Hotel Show offers the industry professionals in the Middle East a platform from which to source products, connect and learn about critical topics over the course of three days. The Hotel Show will once again benefit from being part of the Middle East Design and Hospitality Week, which brings the biggest and most important celebration of all things design and hospitality with
co-located events: INDEX, Workspace and The Leisure Show.
